Review of Paris, Texas (1984) by Dan P — 23 Jan 2011

An amazing journey with an interesting character. First we start off wondering why this man, Travis, is not speaking, then we take this slow trip to discovering him. Travis keeps wandering around, not sticking to a single place. No one can force him to stick around. His brother Walt finds him in Texas, which is the first time even hearing from him in 4 years. Travis isn't even close to what Walt once thought of him. One of the things Travis first says is that he bought some land in Paris, Texas because that's where he thought he was conceived. His dad would kid around saying he first met his wife in Paris, then pause for the Texas part so they would think Paris, France. The rest of the movie pretty much plays off of this idea. Everyone around seems to be creating life to fit their views whether it is real or not. Walt and Anne raised Hunter as their own child, and Hunter even calls them mom and dad. When Travis comes back Walt tries to get Hunter to see Travis as his real dad, which is upsetting Anne. She wants to keep things the way they have been. I mean, Travis and Jane left their child for 4 years, right? What makes Travis a fit parent? It might be logical, but again it's just people trying to live in their own fantasy world.

**SPOILERS**.

Everything begins to slow down even more when Travis takes Hunter with him to find Jane, and not in a bad way. I was so connected with the characters that I wanted to be along with them the entire journey. I love that Travis finds Jane in the sex place, and when they talk it's full of long shots until they both finish their stories. And the shot with her close to him at the glass and his face is reflected over hers was perfection. I really think Paris, Texas is a better film than Wings of Desire, but both show that Wim Winders is a master filmmaker.